3G Uptake Slow at China Mobile

China Mobile said that in May, just 746,000 of its 488 million subscribers used its new 3G network, adding that it has experienced "various challenges" in the deployment of its 3G TD-SCDMA technology.

The company said that the TD-SCDMA industry chain is still at an early stage of development, with the related technologies and products lacking in sophistication and maturity. source: China Mobile SEC filing

Palm's Sales Slide

Smartphone maker Palm reported a 44% decline in revenues to 736 million US dollars for the year ending May 29, 2009 as unit shipments fell 25% to 2.4 million. source: Palm statement

Telefonica Sees Improvement

Telefonica SA is seeing signs of improvement in the company's operating environment in the second quarter, according to Dow Jones. "We knew that 2009 would be a tough year, but in the second quarter we are seeing some improvement compared with the first quarter, in some areas more than others," Telefonica Chairman Cesar Alierta said during the company's annual general meeting. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

India Ups 3G Reserve Price

The Business Standard reported that the Indian government today set a reserve price of 4,040 crore Indian rupees (841 million US dollars) for each license in its planned auction of 3G spectrum, a move that would ensure the auction generates a total of at least 32,320 crore rupees. source: The Business Standard

RIM Forecasts Slowing Growth

Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, forecast that revenue for the quarter ending August 29, 2009 will be between 3.45 and 3.70 billion US dollars, up about 40% on the 2.58 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue for the quarter ending May 30, 2009 was 3.42 billion dollars, up 53% from the 2.24 billion in the same quarter of last year. During the quarter, RIM shipped 7.8 million devices, adding 3.8 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts. At the end of the quarter, the total BlackBerry subscriber account base was 28.5 million. source: RIM statement

MegaFon Sees Stabilisation

Thanks to an increase in subscribers, MegaFon, Russia's third-largest mobile operator, reported a 11% year-on-year rise in revenues for the first quarter of 2009 to 42.2 billion roubles (1.36 billion US dollars). Although minutes of use per customer and ARPU fell in the first quarter as a result of the economic downturn, MegaFon said it is now "seeing some positive signs of stabilization in these operational trends." source: MegaFon statement

India to Raise More than $5 billion from 3G Auction

India's telecommunications minister expects the government to raise at least 250 billion Indian rupees (5.25 billion US dollars) from the auction of 3G spectrum, which is scheduled to take place before the end of 2009, according to Dow Jones. In its February budget, the government had forecast the auction would raise 200 billion rupees. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

LG Sees 2009 Holding Up

LG Electronics expects its mobile handset profitability and shipments this year to be similar to 2008, as the impact of the economic downturn on the industry has been less severe than initially expected, a senior executive told Dow Jones. In 2008, the South Korean phone maker shipped 100.7 million handsets worldwide and its operating profit margin from the business was 11%. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Double Digit Growth in Indonesia?

An increase in subscribers at PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Indonesia's largest telephone company, could lead to revenue growth in the first half of 2009 in the "low double digits" compared to the 30.2 trillion Indonesian rupiah (3 billion US dollars) it generated in the same period a year ago, the company's finance director told Dow Jones. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Telecom Italia CEO Optimistic

Telecom Italia Chief Executive Franco Bernabe said he is "optimistic" about the company's second quarter results, according to Dow Jones. He added that there are signs of recovery in the wider economy. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Qualcomm Raises Forecast

Citing stronger than expected demand for 3G services, Qualcomm raised its guidance for the quarter ending June 28, 2009, projecting that it will earn revenues of between 2.67 and 2.77 billion US dollars compared its prior guidance range of 2.4 to 2.6 billion dollars. source: Qualcomm statement

Fivefold Rise in Global IP Traffic by 2013

Global IP traffic is set to increase fivefold from 2008 to 2013, approaching 56 exabytes per month in 2013, up from approximately 9 exabytes per month in 2008, according to Cisco.

The telecoms equipment supplier said mobile data traffic will roughly double each year from 2008 to 2013, increasing 66 times between 2008 and 2013, with video accounting for almost 64% of the world's mobile data traffic in 2013. source: Cisco statement

U.S. Internet Advertising Down 5%

Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. fell 5% year-on-year to 5.5 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. source: IAB statement

PLDT To Raise Forecasts

PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan indicated the Philippines-based company is set to revise its earnings targets upwards after a stronger-than-expected first half of 2009, according to a Dow Jones report. PLDT expects to add between 3 million and 4 million mobile subscribers in 2009, down from 5.2 million new subscribers in 2008, according to the report. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

iPhone Price Revamp

Apple and AT&T halved the price of the iPhone 3G with 8GB storage on a two year contract to 99 US dollars to make way for the faster iPhone 3G S with a better camera, longer battery life, richer graphics and a more sophisticated operating system. The iPhone 3G S 16GB model will cost 199 US dollars with a two year contract from AT&T, while the 32GB model will cost 299 US dollars on the same contract. source: Apple statement

Call Charges at Bottom - Bharti

Bharti Airtel doesn't expect call charges in India to fall further despite increasing competition, Deputy Chief Executive Sanjay Kapoor told Dow Jones Newswires. "Rates are already at the bottom," he is reported to have said.

Dow Jones said that Indian mobile phone users pay less than one cent a minute for short-distance calls. Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, records 1.45 billion minutes of usage a day, according to the report. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Ericsson Sees Netbook Boom

Ericsson estimated that more than 300 million netbooks will be sold worldwide between 2009 and 2014 and the majority will be equipped with a mobile broadband modem. Ericsson also forecast that, by 2011, more than 30 percent of netbooks will be sold by mobile operators. source: Ericsson statement

Bouygues Telecom Keeps Growing

New mobile customers helped Bouygues Telecom of France report a 6% year-on-year rise in like-for-like revenue in the first quarter to 1.27 billion euros. Bouygues maintained its target of increasing telecoms revenue by 2% to 5.2 billion euros in 2009. source: Bouygues statement

KT Sets Three-Year Plan

As it seeks to expand overseas, KT Corp of Korea said that it is targeting 22 trillion Korean (17.9 billion US dollars) won in revenue for 2012 compared with a target of 19 trillion won in 2009. KT also said it expects operating profit to jump 44% from its 2009 level to 2.6 trillion won in 2012 by strengthening the combined business of the company and its newly-merged mobile phone unit. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom